Harden’s late-game heroics net Rockets a rare road win

MINNESOTA – Like a miler hanging back, far from the pack, the Rockets spent the game as if measuring to see how long they could wait for a finishing kick.

They fell behind by 14 early in the second half. They benched James Harden and Jeremy Lin for long stretches. They clanged shots, even while making a run – that was more of a crawl – back into the game.

Finally, Harden made his move. He scored 11 rapid points, putting in a deep jumper, a 3-pointer and a fast break Eurostep drive to take the lead, but was just warming up. When the Wolves went back in front, Harden hit them again, finishing consecutive drives, the second with just 11.7 seconds left for a 87-84 Rockets lead.

When Alexey Shved airballed a 3 at the buzzer, the Rockets had stunned the Timberwolves, 87-84, for their fifth-consecutive win before 20,340 at Target Center, the third largest crowd in franchise history

With the win, the Rockets moved to 1-6 on the road against Western Conference teams.

Harden scored 17 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, going 6 of 9 to record his career-best 10th consecutive game scoring at least 20. The Rockets made just 40.7 percent of their shots and 29 percent of their 3-pointers. But with Kevin Love going just 3 of 14 and an ill Nikola Pekovic going 1 of 7, the Wolves scored just 36 points in the paint, keeping the Rockets in range to steal the win in the final 17 minutes.

With the Rockets offense slow and sloppy, the Wolves had easily pushed their lead to as much as 14 midway through the third quarter. They continued to get open looks, as they had through most of the game, but when Minnesota started missing for most of five minutes to end the third quarter, the Rockets crawled their way back into the game.

With Kevin McHale sitting Jeremy Lin and James Harden after five second-half minutes, the Rockets found their way back in the game mostly by gathering Minnesota’s missed shots and at least making a few of their own.

After taking their largest lead, the Wolves went 2 of 11 with three turnovers over five minutes. The Rockets hardly lit it up, but Omer Asik had three dunks as the Rockets went 6 of 15, cutting the Minnesota lead to one with a 15-2 run. J.J. Barea, who had helped key the Wolves’ second-quarter run, ended the quarter with a jumper for three-point Minnesota lead.

Still, with the Rockets making 38.3 percent of their shots and just 29.2 percent of their 3s, it was stunning that they were even in the game.

When the Rockets were able to push the pace in the first half, they were able to keep the offense going, if not quite to the standards of their recent run. Still, they rebounded well enough through most of the first half to run to 11 fast break points. When they moved the ball quickly in the halfcourt, they got enough open 3-pointers to make 6 of 15 in the half after a 1 of 6 start from beyond the arc.

When they were not running, however, the offense bogged down with Harden unable to draw fouls as he had in the previous three games and Asik unable to get loose as he had in Chicago. Most of all, the Rockets moved slowly into crowds of defense, leading to 12 turnovers that dramatically slowed their offense.

They had overcome that through most of the half, leading by as much as eight with Love and Pekovic misfiring so badly they went 4 of 16 in the half. But late in the half, the Wolves began working J.J. Barea and Alexey Shved around pick-and-rolls, with the Rockets rotating slowly or not at all.

Shved and Barea combined for 15 of the Wolves 30 second-quarter points and taking Minnesota from a five-point deficit to a 47-44 halftime lead.

It was a small wonder that the game was that close, a small miracle it remained close. When it did, that was all the invitation Harden needed.